Solid state actuators can provide small scale precision positioning capabilities. Solid state actuators are expected to be useful in many industries including aerospace, space, automotive, mobile phone, next generation armed forces concepts, as well as many others.
The reversible actuation mechanism of traditional materials such as shape memory alloy (NiTi), piezoelectric materials, magnetostrictive materials, and electroactive polymers actuation typically have limited strain output and/or stress. This limits the types of applications in which solid state actuators can be used. What is needed is improved solid state actuators that provide high energy density and support large strain output.